Research Guides: HIST 252: Urban Histories of Colonialism: Primary Sources

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Recommended Starting Places

Artstor

High-quality images of artworks and cultural objects you can use for class or research.
Historical Newspapers

Full-text content from U.S. & international newspapers from the 19th century to the late 20th century. In addition to news stories, includes editorials, cartoons, classifieds, and obituaries.

See title list of over 400 historical newspapers.

Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
Collection of thousands of maps covering all areas of the world, with 70,000 map images available online.
David Rumsey Map Collections
Includes maps of the World, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania, as well as rare 16th - 21st century maps of North and South America. Free, open access.
Harvard Scanned Maps
Scanned maps and atlases from around the world in hi-res, many of which are georeferenced. From Harvard's Map Collection.
Old Maps Online
Gateway to historical maps in libraries around the world. With contributions from institutions and libraries worldwide.

Nineteenth Century Collections Online
Primary sources from the 19th Century, covering Europe and Africa, Mapping the World, Photography, and Women.

Europe and Africa: Commerce, Christianity, Civilization, and Conquest
Monographs, manuscripts, and newspapers covering key issues of economics, world politics, and international strategy.

Mapping the World: Maps and Travel Literature
Selections from map repositories of the British Library and the National Archives at Kew representing the nineteenth century.

Photography: The World Through the Lens
Collections of photographs, photograph albums, photographically-illustrated books and texts on the early history of photography from libraries and archives from across the globe. Some images are well-known while many have rarely been viewed.

Women: Transnational Networks
Focuses on issues at the intersection of gender and class from the late 18th century to the era of suffrage in the early 20th century, through a transnational perspective. The collection contains sources on European and North American movements and collections from other regions.

Periodicals

Historical Newspapers

Full-text content from U.S. & international newspapers from the 19th century to the late 20th century. In addition to news stories, includes editorials, cartoons, classifieds, and obituaries.

See title list of over 400 historical newspapers.
Colonial Legacies: Empire & Commonwealth Periodicals
Archive of over 30 periodicals covering the 20th-century history of the British Empire, decolonization, and the history and culture of former colonies.

The archive offers a mixture of British publications about the empire and titles published in Commonwealth countries (including Australia, New Zealand, India, Canada, South Africa, and Papua New Guinea).

Coverage spans over 150 years, ranging from the late-19th century to the 21st – these publications encompass the empire’s later phase and its post-independence legacies. It will support research in key events in colonial history, including the latter stages of the Scramble for Africa, the world wars, independence movements, the creation of the Commonwealth and more. While official publications contain valuable information about colonial administration and ideology, more popular titles, covering the arts, society, and general interests, provide insights into many facets of Commonwealth countries’ history and society before and after independence.

Government Papers

U.K. Parliamentary Papers
Complete coverage of the sessional papers of the British House of Commons and the 19th Century House of Lords. Includes over 200,000 papers from 1715 to the present, with supplementary material back to 1688.
Documents on British Policy Overseas (1898 - 1990)
Primary source documents from Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), covering diplomatic history during the 20th century.

Detailed Guide to this resource.
Colonial State Papers (1574 - 1757)
Primary source documents from the 16th to the 18th centuries, covering the earliest English settlements in North America, encounters with Native Americans, piracy in the Atlantic and Caribbean, the trade in slaves, and English conflicts with the Spanish and French.

Includes these collections:
Privy Council and related bodies: America and West Indies, Colonial Papers -
Papers presented to the Privy Council and the Board of Trade between 1574-1757 and relating to England's governance and activities in the American, Canadian, and West Indian colonies (Collection CO 1 from The National Archives).

The Calendar of State Papers, Colonial: North America and the West Indies 1574-1739 -
bibliographic records on documents relating to the colonial past, some with abstracts and full transcriptions.

Detailed Guide to this resource.

Reference Work

Annual Register: A Record of World Events
Year-by-year record of British and world events, published annually since 1758.

Detailed Guide to this resource.

Women

Women and Social Movements Modern Empires Since 1820
Explores world history since 1820 through conquest, colonization, settlement, resistance, and post-coloniality, as told by women's voices.

Revolutions

Revolution and Protest Online
Explores protest movements, revolutions, and civil wars that have transformed societies and human experience from the 18th century through the present.

Revolutions, protests, resistance and social movements from the 18th century through the 21st century, documented through personal papers, organizations, government documents, journals, reports, monographs, images, video, and speeches.

Border Disputes

Border and Migration Studies Online
Covers over thirty border areas worldwide, including: U.S. and Mexico; the European Union; Afghanistan; Israel; Turkey; The Congo; Argentina; China; Thailand; and others. Historical background covered through text, video, and images

Detailed Guide to this resource.

Slavery

Slavery in America and the World: History Culture & Law
Essential legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world. Includes every statute passed by every colony and state on slavery, every federal statute dealing with slavery, and all reported state and federal cases on slavery.

Nineteenth Century Collections

Nineteenth Century Collections Online
Primary sources from the 19th Century, covering Europe and Africa, Mapping the World, Photography, and Women.

Europe and Africa: Commerce, Christianity, Civilization, and Conquest
Monographs, manuscripts, and newspapers covering key issues of economics, world politics, and international strategy.

Mapping the World: Maps and Travel Literature
Selections from map repositories of the British Library and the National Archives at Kew representing the nineteenth century.

Photography: The World Through the Lens
Collections of photographs, photograph albums, photographically-illustrated books and texts on the early history of photography from libraries and archives from across the globe. Some images are well-known while many have rarely been viewed.

Women: Transnational Networks
Focuses on issues at the intersection of gender and class from the late 18th century to the era of suffrage in the early 20th century, through a transnational perspective. The collection contains sources on European and North American movements and collections from other regions.
Gilded Age (1870-1900)
Primary sources and documentary essays covering American life from end of the Civil War to the election of Theodore Roosevelt. Covers immigration and migration, racism and civil rights, labor and industry, women and universal suffrage, treatment of Native Americans, and the environment. Includes songs, letters, photographs, cartoons, government documents, and ephemera.

British Museum Collections
Digital South Asia Library
Collection of links & resources collected by the University of Chicago
Gallica
French National Library digital collections. *in French
Europeana
Digitized multimedia library of European cultural heritage: books, manuscripts, photos, paintings, maps, audio and film material, newspapers, etc.
Enslaved: Peoples of the Historical Slave Trade
Biographical stories of the lives of individuals who were enslaved, owned slaves, or participated in the historical trade.

Even more primary source collections!

Guide to Primary Sources at K
Guide created and curated by your librarians at K!

Library

HIST 252: Urban Histories of Colonialism

What is a Primary Source?

We're here to help!

Finding primary sources takes time!

Be flexible with search terms

Look for materials created during your time period

Start broad, then use date filters

Ask a librarian for help!

Recommended Starting Places

Periodicals

Government Papers

Reference Work

Women

Revolutions

Border Disputes

Slavery

Nineteenth Century Collections

Even more primary source collections!